GalCiv 2 Ultimate Edition Community Update

GalCiv 2 Ultimate Edition Community Update

is now on GOG and Steam! :)

There was some discussion on the Steam forums as to how to get an update to GalCiv 2 out there.

Draginol popped in and suggested that an update incorporating the expertise of the fanbase would be the best way forward. A bugfixing update would soon be on the way.

I sent a message to the other tech tree modders, and luckily secured the assistance of Gaunathor, and later MabusAltarn, as well as some dedicated members of the community who posted some valuable feedback. They have been instrumental to the success of the community update, and I'm glad to have played a small part along the way.

Progress report

The community update has been released as part of a rollout of Stardock products on GOG.com and is also available as an opt-in beta on Steam!

Speaking of which, the time it takes to fully upgrade one field has always bothered me, so I reduced it in my mod. Would that be reasonable to add to this project?

So there's lots of ways to go here. We could look at making the early improvements suck less, we could have them unlock slower, give civ-wide ability bonuses instead of improvements (which is fair, if every race gets something similar on their tech tree), we could make the improvements maintenance-free so that they don't pile on the pain to the maintenance bill so early on. Any other suggestions?

I did a mixed approach in my mod: slightly improved some improvements, gave some civ-wide bonuses, and turned some improvements into cheap starting GAs (which grant both a civ-wide and a planetary bonus). For example, I turned the Maintenance Grid of the Yor into a GA which grants a +25% bonus to civ-wide approval and a +25% bonus to planetary pop-growth. I guess we could do it in a similar way here too: use what is best for each individual race, instead of trying to use the same approach for all. The Torians, for example, have the best starting economy, due to their high pop-growth, so I don't think they need much help in that regard. Though they could use some help keeping their morale up in order to fully exploit their Super Breeder ability.

Speaking of the Torians, how are we going to address the AIP-issue? We definitely can't keep them and the Iconians on AIP 10. So, how do we set them? I have the Torians on AIP 11 and the Iconians on AIP 8 in my mod, and it works okay that way (there is always room for improvement).As for the Drengin, Yor, and Korath, I kept them on AIP 7, because I thinks it's workable on the right settings (and because AIP 7 is the best AI as far as handling approval goes).

When is a good time for militarisation to begin? I expect opinions here will vary wildly, but my suggestion would be after the first colony rush.

I agree.

Specifically broken improvements

Gravity Accelerators: when traded to another race, that race doesn't get the speed bonus. Replacing the ShipSpeedBonus tag with a bonus to the Speed ability fixes this.

Temple of Neutrality: The MinAlignment tag is set too high, and it has no MaxAlignment tag. This causes the Temple to only affect a handful of the Neutral races (those who are very close to becoming Good) and all Good ones. (The values for the other two Temples are slightly off too, but that is only a minor issue.)

Gaia Vortex: the PlanetaryQualityBonus tag doesn't work in TotA. Replacing it with the PlanetQualityChange tag fixes the problem, but also requires adjusting the value, because the bonus-type changes from percentage to integer.

Minor bugs/issues:

Merchant Emporium: it doesn't upgrade from the Barter Station, because it is missing the S_UpgradeTarget tag.

Aul Incinerator: it can be affected by Agents and is destructible. This is more a case of inconsistency with the other PQ-changing improvements than of the Incinerator being broken or bugged. However, the destructibility could lead to a potential exploit: the PQ-change is permanent and gets applied each time the Aul Incinerator gets build. So you could build/destroy/re-build the Incinerator until the planet has a PQ of 1. Sure, it's not really a serious issue (more a case of trolling the AI), but we might as well fix it while we're at it.

Enhanced Xeno Farm and its upgrade, Intensive Farming, are both unlocked by Xeno Farm Construction II.

There are also several improvements which are missing their QueryGraphics (Manufacturing Matrix L3, Propaganda Center, Shrine of the Mithrilar, Terraforming).

Those are all of the bugs in the PlanetImprovements.xml I know of. However, there are several more issues with the planetary improvements (these are mainly for the non-modders and/or reminders):

The 1pp-bug. Should we address it, and if so, how? It only affects the Power Plants (Fusion, Anti-Matter, Quantum) and the Arcean Navigation Centers. Fixing it via XML-editing would require changing and/or removing some of those buildings, which some players may not like.

Orphaned improvements. Some races start out with improvements which they cannot improve upon, because they don't have the necessary techs in their tech tree, causing the AI to waste space on them, because it is unable to decommission improvements.For example, the Drengin start out with the Black Market, but later unlock the Adv. Market Center, which is an entirely different line of economic improvement. Similar for the Altarians and Drath, who start out with the Entertainment Network, and later unlock both the Healing Pool and the Drathian Temple. This causes them to end up with three independent approval improvements, the best of which is the Healing Pool.

Maintenance and construction-cost of high-end improvements are extremely high. When reaching the high-end versions of research and manufacturing improvement, the maintenance and construction makes a huge jump upwards. This makes these improvements less efficient than the previous versions. Most players either stay with the earlier tech or disable auto-upgrade when researching the new one. The AI, however, has no choice in the matter. It will always auto-upgrade to the latest version when researching a new tech.

Farms. Overpopulation is a major issue for the AI, because it just isn't as good as a human player at handling approval. Due to this, most tech tree mods changed farms to provide a percentage bonus instead of an integer one. However, this also caused the farming bonus-tiles to become entirely pointless, which some mod-users complained about.

The descriptions of several improvements are either unclear as to what the improvement does, to what the bonuses apply (only the planet? the whole empire?), or just plain wrong.

As I mentioned in one of my PMs to Marvin, I've fixed the bugs in the GC2_Conversations.xml (though it could use more testing; plus, there is still the issue with the custom text I added to it). The same goes for several more files (CustomPlanets.xml, English.str, FlavorText.xml, InvTactics.xml, PoliticalParties.xml, Screens.str, and UPIssues.xml).

When I made the scenarios and campaigns compatible with my mod, I also fixed several bugs. The biggest ones were in the mission Apocalypse of the DL campaign (on the map of the mission, the owner of the DL planets is set to Krynn), and the mission Nightmare of the TotA campaign (the Iconians and Krynn have placeholder-text as First Contact greetings, and the path to the ending-cinematic is incorrectly set). I think this is something else we could address with this project. However, we should wait until after we're done with the tech trees, because a lot of the issues with the campaigns and scenarios revolve around mis-assigned techs.

There is also still the issue with the AIs limit of 100 starbase modules. We definitely need to reduce the number of starbase modules in the game so the AI can fully use them. The military-assist and defence modules are probably the best candidate (there is an awful lot of them). I believe, if we combine those modules so one provides benefits to all three weapons or defence categories (like the Battle Stations module, for example) we can solve two problems at once: less modules for the AI to deal with, and less constructor spam.The next modules we can look at are the economy-assist and mining ones, plus the modules the AI doesn't use at all (Terror Star, sensors, slow-enemies).

One last thing, I'm trying to confirm a bug I have in my games: the UP issue which increases the number of available trade routes doesn't work for me, i.e., it doesn't increase the number of trade routes when it gets passed. This happened both in my mod, and the vanilla version of TotA, DA, and DL. I first encountered this earlier this year, but I couldn't get confirmation, if I'm the only one having this issue (should have posted it in the Bugs section instead of my mod post).

I'm not sure how much I can contribute to this, because truth be told, I've never had much interest in making the AI more effective in general - only in fixing the obvious errors. But on that note, I used to have a list compiled of strange categorizations that made the AI not research certain techs. I'll have to go looking for it, but off the top of my head, the biggest one is that the Terrans, Altarians, Drath, and Korx all have Space Weapons classified as a point defense tech, meaning that they won't research it if no one is using missiles. Obviously, this is pretty crippling.

Yeah I agree with you on the Yor Maintenance Grid. Their approach to economy is different to the other races, so forcing them to use up that one tile on every planet, costing them maintenance (hey, every bc counts!) kind of sucks.

I can't say that I foudn the Torians to be hugely successful on AIP 8, so AIP 11 sounds like a good fit, especially if it takes advantage of approval boosting buildings.

I actually find that the Drengin can be a powerhouse on AIP 8. They're as scary as the Terrans.

As to the 1pp buildings bug, well, in the case of power plants you can come close to the intended effect by making them a Galactic Achievement or trade good. If you can't trade for it, you can always take it by force!

With regards to farming, I think that the percentage boost works well, but instead of having an upgrade chain, we have just one spammable farm, and the other farming techs can yield Super Projects. And so, if population craziness would be a problem with those Super Projects, we can make the techs completely unpalatable for the AI to research, meaning that the player can use those to gain an edge, but not a huge one.

With the orphaned improvements, again Super Projects for a planet-wide or civ-wide ability boost seems like the way to go. Or, remove the improvement entirely and allow the tech to grant that bonus from the get-go.

With the Altarian and Drath approval buildings, here's a thought. Is there really anything to stop the healing pools from being inside the temples? Does make a certain kind of sense. So in that case, if you form them into an upgrade chain (I just ditched the Entertainment Network entirely) then you're not really replacing the temples with healing pools, you're adding something cool and new to them.

Because of the game not liking it when a building is an upgrade for something that isn't present in a race's tech tree, this means that the Torian Healing Pools might need to be their own improvement - same name perhaps, but different so far as the game is concerned.

I totally agree about high-end improvements being over-costed and not worth it. Upgrades should always be worth building, even if not right now, but Industrial Sectors just clog up build queues for years, especially because the AI does not re-order the build queue to increase manufacturing capability before everything else. I also re-costed research buildings to bring them a bit more in line.

Skipping ahead because I agree with everything else you put forward, I think the thing to do about the Trade Route UP issue is to test to see if modding it can actually do anything (make it the only issue available to vote on, if that works) because I've never noticed any change after passing it.

Yeah I agree with you on the Yor Maintenance Grid. Their approach to economy is different to the other races, so forcing them to use up that one tile on every planet, costing them maintenance (hey, every bc counts!) kind of sucks.

The Maintenance Grid doesn't have a maintenance cost, so that's not a problem in this case. It does take up valuable space and buildtime though, because you want the Yor to have it on all worlds. This actually leads me to two questions:

1. The Yor economy. Should we fix it? If yes, how?

One possible way to do it is to use my approach. I got rid of the Efficiency Center improvement (one less mandatory 1pp for the Yor), and instead doubled the bonuses from the Efficiency Studies techs and gave the Yor access to the government-techs again. In addition, I reduced the maintenance-costs across the board (where necessary at least) and slightly increased the efficiency/power of several improvements.While this isn't as effective as being able to spam Stock Markets, it is in line with how the Yor operate in the vanilla game. Plus it is easier for the AI to handle, because it doesn't has to build any additional improvements, just research some techs. The only improvements it has to build are Charging Stalks, because a higher base-population is the primary way for the Yor to increase their economy. AIP 7 treats Charging Stalks as approval improvements and builds up to four of them per planet. With my farming-changes this means a max population of 20b, which is fine.

Another way is to give the Yor a spammable economy improvement. I'm loathe to make the Efficiency Center spammable, because that would make the AI tile-dependent on yet another building. In my opinion, it would be best to add an economy bonus to an improvement the AI already wants to build a lot: the Collective. This also makes thematic sense, because the Yor use the Collectives to manufacture the goods they (presumably) sell to the other races.The remaining questions now are how high the bonus should be, and should it be fixed or increase with each upgrade to the improvement? I'm leaning towards a fixed bonus, because the thought of an Ultimate Collective with the economy bonus of a Stock Market scares me (it might also be quite OP).

2. Some races have a lot of 1pp improvements. In some cases, those are must-haves, but they are also often expensive to build and maintain, and the AI is not always capable of using them properly. Should we address this? If yes, how much?

I actually find that the Drengin can be a powerhouse on AIP 8. They're as scary as the Terrans.

Yes, AIP 8's militaristic nature would be a good fit for the Drengin. However, I'm not sure, if its over-fondness of manufacturing techs, coupled with its dislike for research techs, could be a problem.

As to the 1pp buildings bug, well, in the case of power plants you can come close to the intended effect by making them a Galactic Achievement or trade good. If you can't trade for it, you can always take it by force!

I'm not so sure about this idea. Turning the Power Plants into GAs or TGs has some downsides. Only one race could get them, and the AI would have more difficulty making good use of them. You could fix the former by making them SPs, and the latter by making the bonus civ-wide. However, that could lead to a new exploit, if someone gets access to multiple Power Plants, so it might be better to scrap the buildings entirely, and make the techs grant the bonuses to social and military production directly (which is what I ended up doing).

Come to think of it, there are several improvements in the game which the AI can't make good use of. The best examples are the Hyperion Shipyard, the Stellar Forge of the Arceans, and the Doomsday Generator of the Altarians/Drath, because their bonuses only affect the ships built on the planet they are located on. Changing those improvements would increase AI effectiveness, but I'm still not sure, how extensive our re-balancing efforts should be.

With regards to farming, I think that the percentage boost works well, but instead of having an upgrade chain, we have just one spammable farm, and the other farming techs can yield Super Projects. And so, if population craziness would be a problem with those Super Projects, we can make the techs completely unpalatable for the AI to research, meaning that the player can use those to gain an edge, but not a huge one.

I think the upgrade chain can work. The main issue is the necessity to balance the farms for two different base points (16mt for the homeworld, and 8mt for the colonies). If we change it to one base for all planets (e.g., 8mt), it will be much easier to balance. I've never seen the AI build more than four farms per planet in my mod, so a max food-bonus of 40% (3mt) for spammable farms would be okay (max population 20b).However, my approach also has some downsides. Limiting the homeworld to a population of 8b would stump population growth and hinder the early-game economy. Races who are starting out with farming improvements would get an advantage due to this. My approach also assumes much more restrictive tech trading. In a game with more liberal tech trading, it could lead to problems, because I needed to increase the value of the farms to 200+ in order to force the AIPs to build them. So, if an AI has access to two different spammable farms, it might build more than the expected four, leading to the old problem of overpopulation.

Still, we also need to look at the main reason for changing farms: the way the AI handles approval. Forcing the AI to build more approval improvements should be the first step. AIP 7 doesn't need much encouragement, but AIP 8 and 11 do. The improvements themselves also need to examined. Some of the upgrades barely increase the bonus (e.g., the Slaugherthorium only provides 5% more than the Arena of Agony). Lastly, the techs necessary to unlock the improvements should be straight-forward (looking at you Altarians, Drath, and Thalan). In the end, all races should have adequate ways to increase morale.

With the orphaned improvements, again Super Projects for a planet-wide or civ-wide ability boost seems like the way to go. Or, remove the improvement entirely and allow the tech to grant that bonus from the get-go.

I'm more leaning towards removing the improvements from only those races who can't upgrade them. For example, both the Drengin and the Korath start out with the Black Market improvement. The Drengin have no way to upgrade it, but the Korath do. So, let's remove the Black Market from the Drengin (and give them the Market Center instead).The way I think of doing this is to add a couple new starting techs which serve as pre-requisite for those improvements. For example, the tech A Ruthless History would only unlock the Arena, while a new manufacturing tech would unlock the Basic Slave Pit, and a new economy tech the Black Market. The same can be done with the Market Center and the Entertainment Network too.

With the Altarian and Drath approval buildings, here's a thought. Is there really anything to stop the healing pools from being inside the temples? Does make a certain kind of sense. So in that case, if you form them into an upgrade chain (I just ditched the Entertainment Network entirely) then you're not really replacing the temples with healing pools, you're adding something cool and new to them.

No, there is nothing stopping this. However, I'm not really fond of the Altarians and Drath having access to the Healing Pools at all. The Torians have those too, and it makes much more sense for them, due to their backstory. So, why not give the Altarians/Drath something more unique and befitting their spirituality? The PlanetImprovements.xml has an abandoned Temple improvement. We could give that to them, and turn the Drathian Temple into an upgrade for it.

Because of the game not liking it when a building is an upgrade for something that isn't present in a race's tech tree, this means that the Torian Healing Pools might need to be their own improvement - same name perhaps, but different so far as the game is concerned.

This reminds me of something else: the Neutrality Learning Center. It's available in the tech trees of the Drengin and Torians. They don't have access to the regular lab techs, so the AI won't be able to upgrade the existing labs with the NLC. It's probably best to remove it from those tech trees. We also need to fix the NLC to properly upgrade all regular labs instead of just the Research Academy.

I totally agree about high-end improvements being over-costed and not worth it. Upgrades should always be worth building,

Adjusting the buildcosts should be straight-forward enough. I'm using 50% of the cost of the base improvement (rounded to the nearest number divisible by five) for each upgrade. It's not too expensive, but also not too cheap. However, how do we go about the maintenance? Keep it as an increasing value (e.g. +1bc per 2ip/tp), make it a fixed value (only buildcost and output increase), or use a combination of both?

We also should take a look at the TGs, SPs, and GAs. They are all very inconsistent in both power and cost. I also believe we should get rid of the maintenance cost for them. You shouldn't have to wonder, if you're able to afford them. It's bad enough, that you often have to race to get them in the first place. Also, some of their tech requirements don't make much sense. For example, Aphrodisiac would be more fitting under Fertility Acceleration than under its current place of Habitat Improvement.

Skipping ahead because I agree with everything else you put forward, I think the thing to do about the Trade Route UP issue is to test to see if modding it can actually do anything (make it the only issue available to vote on, if that works) because I've never noticed any change after passing it.

Well, that UP issue actually has two problems. The first is, that it is set up incorrectly. It is set up as a multiple-choice question, but the effect only works for a yes/no question. That is easily fixed (I did it before in my mod). Testing this is also no problem. Just comment out the other UP issues so it's the only one left. That works fine.The second problem is the one I mentioned in my last post: does this UP issue actually add more trade routes? It doesn't in my game (mod and vanilla). If that is only the case for my copy of the game, then that is fine. If others are affected too, then we're screwed, because those effects are hardcoded.

A couple more things:

1. Certain improvements share the same icon, which can be confusing for players. Should we fix this?

2. The tech requirements for a lot of the starbase modules are all over the place. We should probably streamline them when we're reducing the amount of modules.

3. There are a few planetary improvements which are either useless, or only useful under very specific circumstances. For example, the Food Distribution Center (farms are better, unless you have a huge amount of food) and the Fertility Clinic (great at quickly building up your population, but useless once you've reached the max). The AI is incapable of properly using them. So what should we do about them?

4. Should we rewrite the files for the tech trees, planetary improvements, starbase modules, and ship modules (if we're rebalancing those too) from the ground up? The way they are currently written makes it hard to work with them (I'm using Notepad++). You have to constantly search up or down to find the next tech or improvement. There simply is no structure.

5. Some of the races are hard to distinguish on the map, because their colours are too similar (Korx and Iconians, Korath and Krynn). Should we change that, or does that go too far (better leave it to mods)?

6. Should we try to fix the issue where minor races and the DL lose access to certain techs, depending on what major races are active in the current game?

7. Should me make the minor races "smart"?

8. Some political parties and the cost of some ability bonuses are woefully unbalanced. Should we fix this?

Some more organisational questions:

1. How are we going to share the files (for testing, editing, etc.)? Dropbox?

2. How are we organising this? I mean: Who is doing what? How are we deciding what needs to be done? Who is giving the shots?

Okay, here are my proposed changes to the CustomPlanets.xml (and my general reasons for them):

Line 117 renamed DrenginAsteroidField to AltarianAsteroidField (this is the Altarian starsystem, not the Drengin one)Line 136 renamed Arcea III to Athol III (the starname is Athol; the planets of other starsystems are named after the star, not the homeworld of the race living there; the asteroid field is also named after the star)Line 140 renamed Arcea IV to Athol IVLine 144 renamed Arcea V to Athol VLine 192 renamed Iconia II to Icos II (the starname is Icos; the planets of other starsystems are named after the star, not the homeworld of the race living there; the asteroid field is also named after the star)Line 196 renamed Iconia III to Icos IIILine 200 renamed Iconia IV to Icos IVLine 204 renamed Iconia V to XTR-17 (InternalName of the planet; gives more flavour to the planet; makes sense, that the Yor would use a alpha-numerical designation for the planet)Line 221 renamed Korx II to Mercenary (InternalName of the planet; gives more flavour to the planet)Line 225 renamed Korx III to Oxor III(the starname is Oxor; the planets of other starsystems are named after the star, not the homeworld of the race living there; the asteroid field is also named after the star)Line 229 renamed Korx IV to Oxor IVLine 233 renamed Korx V to Oxor VLine 250 renamed Dratha II to Drathis II(the starname is Drathis; the planets of other starsystems are named after the star, not the homeworld of the race living there)Line 254 renamed Dratha III to Drathis IIILine 258 renamed Dratha IV to Drathis IVLine 262 renamed Dratha V to Drathis VLine 279 renamed Thalia II to Thalis II(the starname is Thalis; the planets of other starsystems are named after the star, not the homeworld of the race living there; the asteroid field is also named after the star)Line 283 renamed Thalia III to Thalis IIILine 287 renamed Thalia IV to Thalis IVLine 291 renamed Thalia V to Thalis VLine 308 renamed New Iconia II to Iconis II(the starname is Iconis; the planets of other starsystems are named after the star, not the homeworld of the race living there)Line 312 renamed New Iconia III to Iconis IIILine 316 renamed New Iconia IV to Iconis IVLine 320 renamed New Iconia V to Iconis VLine 324 renamed New Iconian Asteroid Field to Asteroid Field of Iconis (asteroid fields are name after the star, not the homeworld of the race living there)Line 329 added <DisplayName>Ra'nagoh</DisplayName> (the starsystem was missing the display name)Line 337 renamed Kynda to Krindar (the planet is named after the leader of the Korath; the name is spelled "Krindar" in the RaceConfig.xml)Line 358 added <DisplayName>Alora</DisplayName> (the starsystem was missing the display name)

None of those changes are true bugfixes (even the missing DisplayName tags don't cause any issues). They are more for flavour and consistency, so they may not fit in with the goal of this project. But what does everyone else think?

Political Parties As the leader of a civilization, you also belong to a political party. When your party is in power in the Senate, you get their bonuses. However, if you lose control of the Senate, you get the winning party‘s bonuses as negatives.

The part about the penalties doesn't work this way. Instead, the penalties depend on the party you have chosen, and are set in the PoliticalParties.xml. They are also very inconsistent. Some parties use their own bonuses as penalties, some use the bonuses of the opposing party as penalties, and some use something completely different as penalties. How some of the opposing parties are currently set also doesn't make much sense, in my opinion.

Party Opposing Party

Industrialists Technologists

Universalists Pacifists

Federalists Populists

Populists Federalists

War Party Pacifists

Pacifists War Party

Technologists Mercantile

Mercantile Technologists

I suggest to use the bonuses of the opposing party as penalty, and make the following changes to the opposing parties:

As I mentioned in my first post, I fixed the bugs in the GC2_Conversations.xml, but also added a bit of new text. The problem with this is, that my notes regarding the changes aren't very good, and my notes regarding the custom text are almost non-existent. This means, that recreating the fixes is going to take a long time. Even more so than it already would, due to the way the file works. The question is now, can we use the file despite the custom text?

I primarily used existing text and slightly edited it to fit to the situation. Only rarely did I come up with something completely original. There are also not that many instances where I added text (from what I recall at least).

Evil: You! Keep your hands from our slavelings or we will destroy you!

My edited version of the First Contact Greetings of the Arceans to the Terrans so they can be used as Greetings to all the other races:

Good: We are the [SPEAKING_RACE_NAME], a proud and noble race.

Neutral: We are a proud warrior civilization. We have nothing against you so long as you respect our power and wisdom.#Welcome, to OUR galaxy.#The stars that you see are all claimed by us. Be wary before trespassing on any of the planets that orbit them.

Evil: This galaxy has long been explored by the [SPEAKING_RACE_NAME] and we will crush any who oppose us.

My custom First Contact Greetings of the Yor to the Iconians:

Good: Oh joy, you survived! We hope, that you give us the chance to make up for our past mistakes.

Neutral: So, you survived. If we calculate that you are a threat to us, we will exterminate you.

Evil: You're still alive? Interfere with our plans and we will exterminate you for good this time.

My edited version of the First Contact Greetings of the Drath to the Terrans, so they can be used as Greetings to all the other races (except the Altarians):

Good: We are the [SPEAKING_RACE_NAME]. If you cross us, we will make sure your death is swift.

Neutral: We are the [SPEAKING_RACE_NAME]. If you cross us, we will make sure your death is swift.

Evil: We are the [SPEAKING_RACE_NAME]. If you cross us, we will make sure your death is swift.

My edited version of the First Contact Greetings of the Drath to the Terrans, so they can be used as Greetings to the Altarians:

Good: We meet again. If you cross us, we will make sure your death is swift.

Neutral: We meet again. If you cross us, we will make sure your death is swift.

Evil: We meet again. If you cross us, we will make sure your death is swift.

My edited version of the First Contact Greetings of the Thalan to the Terrans, so they can be used as Greetings to all the other races:

Good: We have come to this place and time to monitor the humans. The time of destruction nears.#We are the [SPEAKING_RACE_NAME]. We have come... from somewhere else to help maintain a galactic balance.

Neutral: We have come to this place and time to monitor the humans. The time of destruction nears.#We are the [SPEAKING_RACE_NAME]. We have come... from somewhere else to help maintain a galactic balance.

Evil: We have come to this place and time to monitor the humans. The time of destruction nears.#We are the [SPEAKING_RACE_NAME]. We have come... from somewhere else to help maintain a galactic balance.

My edited version of the First Contact Greetings of the Iconians to the Terrans, so they can be used as Greetings to all the other races:

Good: We are the [SPEAKING_RACE_NAME]. Thanks to Hyperdrive, we can now once more go to the stars and hopefully reclaim our worlds from the vile Yor.

Neutral: We are the [SPEAKING_RACE_NAME]. Thanks to Hyperdrive, we can now once more go to the stars and hopefully reclaim our worlds from the vile Yor.

Evil: We are the [SPEAKING_RACE_NAME]. Thanks to Hyperdrive, we can now once more go to the stars and hopefully reclaim our worlds from the vile Yor.

As far as GC2_Conversations.xml goes, my own modding efforts just fixed the errors and didn't add any custom text.

Really? I wonder how you did that, because, in order to properly fix several of those errors, you to have add all possible dialogue-combinations. However, there aren't fitting texts for some of them. So you either have to edit existing text-parts, or come up with something yourself.

As far as GC2_Conversations.xml goes, my own modding efforts just fixed the errors and didn't add any custom text.

Really? I wonder how you did that, because, in order to properly fix several of those errors, you to have add all possible dialogue-combinations. However, there aren't fitting texts for some of them. So you either have to edit existing text-parts, or come up with something yourself.

Not quite sure what you mean. What I did was basically just replace all instances where there was a specific speaker but "Listener Name" was set to "Generic" with 11 different dialogues, one for each other race besides the speaker. I think I fixed a couple of typos, but otherwise I didn't actually write any new dialogue.

Fair points about the organisation of things. I mean, already the topic is is a pretty long read through, so perhaps one approach is to focus on one thing at a time, unless we can be doing something and reading/discussing something else at the same time.

I might have started the ball rolling but I'm quite happy for someone else to set assignments and stuff. Because it is a lot of XML to go through, especially if we're re-organising improvements and techs as we go.

I've only started using Dropbox recently. I know that it's useful for keeping files synced on different devices, I'm just not clear on how that benefits a group project.

On to the greetings, well I don't see anything wrong with what you've come up with. Good work!

I can't say that I ever paid much attention to the political party penalties. But you're right, the vanilla oppositions don't make a lot of sense.

Also good call on the planet naming.

As to AIP 8 and the Drengin, if I've found them to be a great threat, it is possibly in part because I restructured the tech tree to give it only one avenue forward - through the research techs.

That doesn't fit very well with the idea of keeping the tech trees in the vanilla style, of course. However, in the case of the Drengin, it fits in the sense that they use slaves both in manufacturing and in research, and they're adept at getting the most out of them. Perhaps in a way the lab slavelings don't just provide new insights into technologies, but also how to get the worker slaves to do more. I'm speculating here, though.

The thing is, a technologically backward opponent doesn't pose much of a threat. So we need to think of some way to work around this deficiency in AIP 8.

I think with minors, giving them an accelerated, stripped down tech tree helps. The possible downside is that it does not play well with tech trading on.

I think smart minors is something best left to mods. They do build up quite a good defence fleet in orbit with a faster tech tree, so that should prevent them from being steamrolled early on.

The Fertility Clinic is a bit of a waste of a tile. I'd like it if it was at least a Super Project for a civ-wide bonus to population growth.

Not quite sure what you mean. What I did was basically just replace all instances where there was a specific speaker but "Listener Name" was set to "Generic" with 11 different dialogues, one for each other race besides the speaker. I think I fixed a couple of typos, but otherwise I didn't actually write any new dialogue.

Okay, here are some examples.

From AI_WELCOME_ATTACKER_DEFINATE_VICTOR:

<Dialogue> <Speaker Name="Arcean">3</Speaker> <Listener Name="Generic">10</Listener> <Phrase Morality="1"> <Text>Bone-flecked jam. That is the future I see for the Human race if you are not able to grovel your way to peace today.#When we get done with you, you'll wish you had stayed up in the trees of East Africa where you belonged. Grovel now and we might let you live. Maybe.</Text> </Phrase> </Dialogue>

The Listener here is obviously meant to be the Terrans. You can't use this text for the other races, though it should be okay to just fix the Listener Name in this instance. Other Topics, however, make trouble if you have an entry for a specific Speaker, but not all Listener combinations. In those cases, the game simply shows no text for the missing combo, instead of using the Generic Speaker/Generic Listener entry.

<Dialogue> <Speaker Name="Torian">4</Speaker> <Listener Name="Yor">5</Listener> <Phrase Morality="1"> <Text>The end of the [YourEmpireName] appears at hand. If it makes you feel better, we have found that your kind can be converted to a paste-like substance that makes an excellent lubricant. If you fail, Humanity will live on, sort of.#Our research units are preparing their organ harvesting factories for converting your people to nutrients for our use. They will need to be compensated if you wish to avoid that future.#Sentient organic life forms generate a great deal of energy. We have great plans to grow your kind in vast farms to harvest their energy like a battery. There may be other alternatives if you are willing to pay the right price. But, I doubt it.</Text> </Phrase> </Dialogue>

This is obviously meant for the Yor as Speaker and the Terrans as Listener. That's easily fixed. If you then either remove the first entry, or replace the word "humanity" with "your race", you can even use this for the other Listener combinations. That would give the Yor a bit more flavour than simply using the Generic lines.

This one doesn't make sense. The Arceans aren't slavers! It is much more fitting for the Drengin. So I ended up swapping their texts.

Those are some of the entries which are more easily fixed (no custom text required). They are also some of the few entries I have good notes for. In any case, it should be clear now, that just creating all Speaker/Listener combos is not always enough, because the text sometimes just doesn't make sense for the Speaker and/or Listener.

Still, if you have nothing against it, we could use your file as a base. We just need to test if there are any remaining bugs in it, and discuss any text-changes for instances where the original one makes no sense. The purely custom text could then be left for my mod, which may be preferable for some people.

Fair points about the organisation of things. I mean, already the topic is is a pretty long read through, so perhaps one approach is to focus on one thing at a time, unless we can be doing something and reading/discussing something else at the same time.

Yes, a more focused approach might be best. I was primarily brain-storming at the beginning. Thinking of all the possible bugs, balancing and AI issues we could address. Maybe even some of the lore inconsistencies.

I have also begun to fix the bugs which don't require major rewrites in some of the files (along with taking notes of the changes), just so we have a good base to go from. It shouldn't take too long until I'm done. Maybe the end of the week? I will post the changelogs as I go along, just to see if we all agree on the fixes and to make sure that I didn't miss something. I won't address any of the typos and grammar mistakes, unless they are glaringly obvious. That is best left for someone who is better at English than me.

I might have started the ball rolling but I'm quite happy for someone else to set assignments and stuff. Because it is a lot of XML to go through, especially if we're re-organising improvements and techs as we go.

Well, I'm good at "doing stuff". "Ordering others to do stuff", however, not so much.

I've only started using Dropbox recently. I know that it's useful for keeping files synced on different devices, I'm just not clear on how that benefits a group project.

I'm not quite sure how useful Dropbox would be in this case either. While I've been using it for about two years now, it's only for hosting my mods and the occasional screenshot. Maybe somebody has a better idea about what we can use?

As to AIP 8 and the Drengin, if I've found them to be a great threat, it is possibly in part because I restructured the tech tree to give it only one avenue forward - through the research techs.

That's very likely. My mod is structured more like the vanilla game, and most AIP 8 races go straight for better factories. If they do go for better labs, it's only for Xeno Labs, because they are dirt-cheap to research. The only exception are the Thalan, but that is probably due to their differently structured tech tree.

I think with minors, giving them an accelerated, stripped down tech tree helps. The possible downside is that it does not play well with tech trading on.

That could work, but I don't think we need to go that far. The main problems I see for the minors are

1. Possibility to not start with any basic improvements (factories, labs, markets, entertainment)

2. Possibility to not be able to research anything requiring the tech Planetary Improvements

3. Possibility to not be able to research the tech Space Militarization

4. Possibility to not be able to research the cures for the Mega Events Plague and Disease.

5. Possibility to not be able to research basic weapons and/or defences

The first two can be easily fixed, in my opinion.

For the first issue, we just need to make new versions of Industrial Revolution (or the equivalent techs, if we split it up) and Traditional Research, and copies of the improvements with those techs as requirement. The game, strangely enough, has no problems with multiple improvements using the same InternalName, so they'll be able to upgrade to the next tier without issue.

For the second one, we need to give all races access to the tech Planetary Improvements. Either by changing the InternalName of existing techs (e.g., Xeno Slavery in case of the Drengin and Korath), or find a way to add the tech that makes sense for the race.

The third one can be partially fixed by changing the InternalName of the techs War Room (Arceans) and Defense Industries (Thalan) to the one for Space Militarization. This will also give those two races access to the Recruiting Center. Which is a nice bonus, in my opinion.That still leaves the problem of the minors not being able to research Interstellar Warfare, if the game is a 1vs1 match with the Thalan as one of the races.

To fix number four and five would require bigger changes to the tech trees (especially for number five).

Then there are the Dread Lords. Their issues are the possibility to lose access to the Industrial Sector, and the inability to research the cure for the Plague and the Disease.

The first one can be solved by the DL access to a new manufacturing improvement which serves as an upgrade for the Industrial Sector. While the second one can be fixed by by making the DL start out with the cures already researched (just like the Yor).

The Fertility Clinic is a bit of a waste of a tile. I'd like it if it was at least a Super Project for a civ-wide bonus to population growth.

Why not just get rid of it completely and increase the bonus of Fertility Acceleration instead? Makes it even easier for the AI. We could also give Xeno Biology a small pop-growth bonus. I really don't like, that some techs do nothing but serve as stepping-stones for the next tech.

AddTradeRoute01:-renamed SubQuestion from "How many additional trade routes do you suggest?" to "Do you agree to this increase?"-changed Option01 from None to Yes, Option02 from One to No, Option03 from Two to "", Option04 from Three to "", Option05 from Four to ""-changed OptionVal01 from 0 to 2, OptionVal02 from 1 to 0, OptionVal03 from 2 to 0, OptionVal04 from 3 to 0, OptionVal05 from 4 to 0(the effect of this UP issue can only apply a fixed number, not variables, so a multiple-choice question doesn't work; it is still unclear whether this UP issue actually adds more trade routes)

ArmedTransports02: changed YearsInEffect from 1 to 0 (the question states, that this issue is supposed to be permanent)

ConstructorSpeed01: renamed Option01 from 2 parsecs/month to 2 parsecs/week, Option02 from 3 parsecs/month to 3 parsecs/week, Option03 from 5 parsecs/month to 5 parsecs/week (each game-turn is a week, not a month)

StarTax02:-renamed Option01 from 5 bc/month to 5 bc/week, Option02 from 3 bc/month to 3 bc/week, Option03 from 1 bc/month to 1 bc/week (same as above)-changed HowAIWouldVote from 1 to 2 (to make it consistent with the other, similar UP issues)

TechRevolution01: changed OptionVal01 from 10 to 3, OptionVal02 from 5 to 2, OptionVal03 from 2 to 1 (the values for OptionVal01 to 03 were not the same as the ones from Option01 to 03; this can lead to more techs per race getting exchanged than intended)

UPHeadquarters01: renamed InternalName to UPHeadquarters02 (there are two identical entries for this UP issue in the file)

WarFareTax01:-replaced "monthly revenue" with "weekly revenue" (each game-turn is a week, not a month)-renamed Option01 from 10% to 10bc, Option02 from 5% to 5bc (this issue subtracts on integer value, not a percentage)

WarFareTax02:-replaced "Monthly revenue" with "Weekly revenue" (each game-turn is a week, not a month)-changed SubQuestion from "What percentage of monthly income is fair?" to "How much of the weekly income is fair?" (same as above)-renamed Option01 from 20% to 20bc, Option02 from 15% to 15bc, Option03 from 10% to 10bc (this issue subtracts on integer value, not a percentage)

StarbaseModule.xml

Battle Stations Mark II: removed the DefArmor, DefPointDefense, and DefShields tags (you can only increase either the attack or the defence-values of the starbase, not both at the same time; this also fixes the module showing a higher value than it actually adds within the Starbase UI)

Missile Launchpads: changed Module_Requirement from "" to BattleStations (this module could be added without requiring any other modules)

Sub-Space Warheads: changed Module_Requirement from MissileLaunchpads to None (not all races have access to the required module in their tech tree)

Sniper Turrets: changed Module_Requirement from "" to BattleStations; un-commented the ModuleCost tag (this module could be added without requiring any other modules; unlike similar modules, it had no cost)

Gravity Accelerators: replaced <ShipSpeedBonus>1</ShipSpeedBonus> with <AbilityType>3</AbilityType> <AbilityAmount>10</AbilityAmount> (the speed bonus doesn't get applied, if you buy or sell this trade good. A regular bonus to propulsion does work.)

Temple of Evil: changed MaxAlignment from 40 to 39 (a value of 40 is already Neutral)

Temple of Righteousness: changed MinAlignment from 60 to 61 (a value of 60 is still Neutral)

Temple of Neutrality: changed MinAlignment from 60 to 40, and added <MaxAlignment>60</MaxAlignment> (the MinAlignment was incorrectly set, causing the Temple to affect all Good races instead of only the Neutral ones)

Cathedral of Valor: changed S_Type from Normal to SuperProject (ability bonuses don't work for normal improvements)

Shrine of the Mithrilar: renamed S_QueryGraphicName from ShrineOfTheMithrilar.png to ShrineOfTheMithralar.png (the QueryGraphic didn't work due to a typo)

Gaia Vortex: replaced <PlanetaryQualityBonus>10</PlanetaryQualityBonus> with <PlanetQualityChange>1</PlanetQualityChange> (the tag PlanetaryQualityBonus doesn't work in TotA; reduced the value because the original tag worked as a percentage, while the new one uses integers)

Manufacturing Matrix L3: renamed S_QueryGraphicName from SymbiosisPlatform.png to SymbiosisPlatforms.png (the QueryGraphic didn't work due to a typo)

(Both tactics are supposed to reduce the defender's defence. According to the official modding guide, BonusType 3 decreases the defending planet's attack, while BonusType 4 decreases the defending planet's defence. Therefore, the correct value is 4.)

added the following tags to all races:<PoliticalParty>0</PoliticalParty><HOMEPLANETQUALITY>0</HOMEPLANETQUALITY><COLONIZEHEAVYGRAVITY>0</COLONIZEHEAVYGRAVITY><COLONIZEWATERWORLD>0</COLONIZEWATERWORLD><COLONIZETOXIC>0</COLONIZETOXIC><COLONIZEBARREN>0</COLONIZEBARREN><COLONIZERADIOACTIVE>0</COLONIZERADIOACTIVE><WARPROFITEERING>0</WARPROFITEERING><PERSISTENTTRADEROUTES>0</PERSISTENTTRADEROUTES>

Altarian Resistance: added <Tech>StellarCartography</Tech> (based on the lore, only the Terrans shouldn't start with Stellar Cartography; started out with the tech in DA and DL)

Snathi:-added <DialogueTag>Generic</DialogueTag> (fixes some bugs with the Word on the Street)-removed <Tech>Root</Tech>, <Tech>NeutralHistory</Tech>, and <Tech>Innovative History</Tech> (those techs don't exist in the minor race tech tree)

Dread Lords: added <Tech>Plague Cure</Tech> and <Tech>Disease Cure</Tech> (the DL are unable to research those techs if the respective Mega Events happen after the DL appear)

FlavorText.xml

WordOnStreet_HighTaxes:-changed all cases of [YourLeaderName] to [LeaderName]-changed [YourEmpireName] to [EmpireName]-changed [YourLeaderGenderHisHer] to [LeaderGenderHisHer]

Foreign_Descriptions_Esp0:-Terrans: added all missing race-combinations (unique espionage-descriptions were only set for custom/minor races, but not for the other majors)-Drengin: added all missing race-combinations (unique espionage-descriptions were only set for the Torians and custom/minor races, but not for the other majors)-Yor: added all missing race-combinations (unique espionage-descriptions were only set for the Terrans and custom/minor races, but not for the other majors)-Drath: added all missing race-combinations (unique espionage-descriptions were only set for the Altarians and custom/minor races, but not for the other majors)-Iconians: added all missing race-combinations (unique espionage-descriptions were only set for the Terrans, Drengin, Yor, and custom/minor races, but not for the other majors)

Foreign_Descriptions_Esp1: added entries for the Terrans, Drengin, Yor, Drath, and Iconians (their unique descriptions would otherwise disappear once they reach this level of espionage)

Foreign_Descriptions_Esp2: added entries for the Drengin, Yor, Drath, and Iconians (their unique descriptions would otherwise disappear once they reach this level of espionage)

Foreign_Descriptions_Esp3: added entries for the Drengin, Yor, Drath, and Iconians (their unique descriptions would otherwise disappear once they reach this level of espionage)

Foreign_Descriptions_Esp4: added entries for the Drengin, Yor, Drath, and Iconians (their unique descriptions would otherwise disappear once they reach this level of espionage)

English.str

Line 197 renamed "Next Month" to "Next Week" (each turn is a week, not a month)

Line 765 changed sentence from "People are expressing interest again in the ideas of other cultures, but nowhere to the level that they once were." to "People are still expressing interest in the ideas of other cultures, but nowhere to the level that they were before." (the "again" didn't make sense; the event didn't decrease people's interest in other races' culture, but increased it)

Line 779 renamed "over lords" to "overlords"

Line 840 changed sentence from "We do not understand what the precise effects of this energy but for some reason, it has caused a doubling of reproductive rates." to "We do not understand what the precise effects of this energy are, but, for some reason, it has caused a doubling of reproductive rates."

Line 1377 renamed "month's" to "week's"

Line 1384 renamed "month" to "week"

Line 1385 renamed "month" to "week"

Line 1814 renamed "Star systems" to "Planets"

Line 1815 renamed "Star systems" to "Planets"

Line 1817 renamed "planetary systens" to "planetary leaders"

Line 1818 renamed "planetary systens" to "planetary leaders"

Line 1819 renamed "planetary systens" to "planetary leaders"

Line 1825 renamed "Star systems" to "Planets"

Line 1826 renamed "Star systems" to "Planets"

Line 1827 renamed "Star systems" to "Planets"

Line 1832 changed +30% to +40% (Star Federation provides an econ-bonus of 40%, not 30%)

Line 2825 changed sentence "Who is to say one what day our culture was no longer our own?" to "Who is to say on what day our culture was no longer our own?"

Line 3113 changed sentence "+ Unique technologies include additional weapons and defensive technologies" to "+ Unique technologies include additional research and trade technologies" (Neutral races don't get any new weapons or defences, but do get access to the NLC and a new trade tech.)

Line 3894 renamed "Super-Diplomats" to "Super Diplomats" (it's the only Super Ability with a hyphen)

I'm almost done. Still need to do the tech trees and the GC2_Conversations.xml (even if it is just to get a better changelog of that file). As I said before, the scenarios and campaigns will be done at the very end (at least after the tech trees are 100% done).

However, I'm still not sure whether we're going to make any (further) changes to certain files. Specifically:

1. Trade routes are only really worth it if you heavily invest in econ-bases and/or are lucky with certain events and UP issues. Should we increase the bonuses to trade from the techs, starbase modules, etc. to "fix" this? The Korx would most certainly like it.

2. What about tech trading? Do we keep it as is, or are we going to limit it a bit more? For balancing-reasons, a more limited approach might be reasonable, but I would understand if we keep it as is. However, at least the farming-techs should be set to un-tradeable/un-stealable so the AI doesn't do something stupid.

3. Should we give each major race a specific political party? This is more for flavour-reasons, but can also be used to reduce the weakness of a race or further increase its strengths.

I've been thinking about what the best way to approach this project is, and I believe we should focus primarily on the races at the moment (one of the main purposes of this project is to improve the AI, after all). This will take the most effort, because it requires editing the most amount of files. It also influences how we address other issues, like the AIs limit of 100 starbase modules. Any objections? Other ideas?

if you are still having a problem with the AIPs not getting morale buildings then maybe adding the bonus to the starting colony? I did this in my games.

looking at this list, its a wonder galciv was as good as it was. SD always been one for typos but omg. And all the easy to fix bugs are more numerous than I thought, but it's going to take you guys a week or so to complete which isn't bad considering the bugs have been there for years already... :/

It's only been 4 days, give it time, I'm sure people will smell the progress and come running.

I do like the idea of making trade more worth it. The conditions which make it more favourable are not easily achieved in the early game.

A bit of sanity in the tech trading would be nice. You don't want civs giving away their race-specific stuff, especially not if it has a neat civ-wide bonus on it.

Yeah, I think it would be fitting to assign specific political parties. If nothing else, it helps to further improve upon intrinsic racial abilities. But it also sets the tone for whatever else we do with that race, for example on the tech tree.

So, bit early for it, but since it does follow on from races, what will we do about weapons? A standardised set for each race, or a slightly rebalanced version of the existing sets (as opposed to radically rebalanced)?

Moved all techs from the racial tech trees, and rearranged all entries to make them easier to work with. They are now sorted in the order they appear within this changelog.

Industrial Revolution:-changed Category from Economics to Manufacturing-set AIValue and WillingnessToTrade to 0-added the following tags: CanBeTraded and CanBeStolen

Traditional Research:-added the following tags: Group, WillingnessToTrade, CanBeTraded, and CanBeStolen-set AIValue to 0

A history of benevolence:-removed the following tags: Alignment and CanUseCreativeAbility-added the following tags: AIValue and Model-changed Requires from Adamantium Armor to ImpossibleTech-changed WillingsnessToTrade from 50 to 0

A Glorious History:-changed Cost from 1 to 10-added the following tags: AIValue and Model-changed Requires from None to ImpossibleTech-changed WillingsnessToTrade from 50 to 0

Way Of The Drath:-changed Category from Research to Culture-removed Alignment tag-added the following tags: AIValue and Model-changed Requires from None to ImpossibleTech-changed WillingsnessToTrade from 50 to 0

A Ruthless History:-added the following tags: Cost, AIValue, and Model-set Cost to 10-changed Requires from None to ImpossibleTech-changed WillingsnessToTrade from 50 to 0

Specialized Research:-added the following tags: Group, WillingnessToTrade, CanBeTraded, and CanBeStolen-set AIValue to 0

Precursor Legacy:-changed Branch from Computing to Culture-changed Category from Economics to Culture-added the following tags: Cost, AIValue, and Model-set Cost to 10-removed Alignment tag-changed Requires from None to ImpossibleTech-changed WillingsnessToTrade from 50 to 0

Advanced Robotics:-changed Branch from Computing to Industry-added Details tag (it didn't have Details at all so I used part of this Dev Journal)-changed Category from Culture to Manufacturing-removed Alignment tag-added the following tags: AIValue and Model-changed Requires from None to ImpossibleTech-changed WillingsnessToTrade from 50 to 0

A history of Mercantilism:-changed Category from Ethics to Culture-removed Alignment tag-added the following tags: AIValue and Model-changed Requires from None to ImpossibleTech-changed WillingsnessToTrade from 50 to 0

The Path:-changed Category from Biological Warfare to Culture-changed Cost from 5 to 10-removed Alignment tag-added the following tags: AIValue and Model-changed Requires from None to ImpossibleTech-changed WillingsnessToTrade from 50 to 0

Innovative History:-changed Branch from Industry to Computing-changed Category from Research to Pure Research-changed Cost from 50 to 10-changed AIValue from 5 to 0-removed Alignment tag-added Model tag-changed Requires from None to ImpossibleTech-changed WillingsnessToTrade from 50 to 0

A History of Extremes:-changed Category from Biology to Culture-added the following tags: Cost, AIValue, and Model-set Cost to 10-changed Requires from None to ImpossibleTech-changed WillingsnessToTrade from 50 to 0

Temporal Mechanics:-changed Branch from Industry to Culture-changed Category from Manufacturing to Culture-changed AIValue from 5 to 0-removed Alignment tag-changed Requires from None to ImpossibleTech

Hyperion Matrix:-changed Cost from 50 to 10-changed AIValue from 5 to 0-removed Alignment tag-changed Requires from None to ImpossibleTech

Inherited Technology:-changed Branch from Defenses to Industry-changed Category from Armor to Manufacturing-added the following tags: Cost, AIValue, and Model-set Cost to 10-changed Requires from None to ImpossibleTech-changed WillingsnessToTrade from 50 to 0

Cybernetic History:-changed Branch from Industry to Culture-changed Category from Manufacturing to Culture-removed Alignment tag-added the following tags: Cost, AIValue, and Model-set Cost to 10-changed WillingsnessToTrade from 50 to 0

Xeno Communications: added the following tags: Group and WillingnessToTrade

Universal Translator: added the following tags: Group and WillingnessToTrade

Shrine of the Mithrilar:-changed Category from Culture to Entertainment-removed Alignment tag-added CanBeTraded tag-set WillingnessToTrade from 60 to 0

Shrine of Tandis:-changed Branch from Industry to Culture-changed Category from Culture to Entertainment

Arena of Agony:

Slaughterthoriums:

Healing Pools:-changed Branch from Biology to Culture-replaced Description with the one from the Torian tech tree-replaced Details with the one from the Torian tech tree-changed Category from Medical to Entertainment-changed Cost from 300 to 60-changed Model from regen0 to event30-removed Alignment tag-changed Requires from DivergentEvolution to CulturalEnlightenment-added the following tags: CanBeTraded and CanBeStolen-changed WillingsnessToTrade from 66 to 0

Xeno Business:-added the following tags: Group and WillingnessToTrade-changed Requires from Xeno Entertainment to UniversalTranslator

Cultural Domination: added the following tags: Group and WillingnessToTrade

Historical Assimilation: changed Category from Ethics to Culture

Xeno Cultural Trends: added the following tags: Group and WillingnessToTrade

Cultural Insurrection: added the following tags: Group and WillingnessToTrade

Cultural Conquest: added the following tags: Group and WillingnessToTrade

Xeno Mysticism:-fixed the formatting of the Details-changed Category from Research to Culture-removed Alignment tag

Precursor History:-changed Category from Pure Research to Culture-removed Alignment tag

Xeno Propaganda:-changed Cost from 1000 to 3000 (same as in the Drengin tech tree)-changed Requires from Xeno Communications to UniversalTranslator (how can you influence others, if you aren't yet able to communicate with them?)

Xeno Brain Washing:-changed Cost from 1000 to 4000-changed CultureAbility from 5 to 20 (same as in the Drengin tech tree)

Xeno Public Relations:-changed Category from Communications to Culture-added the following tags: Model and CanBeStolen-removed Alignment tag-changed WillingsnessToTrade from 50 to 0

Xeno Influence:

Xeno Brainwashing:-changed Branch from Weapons to Culture-changed Category from Military to Culture-added CanBeTraded tag-changed WillingsnessToTrade from 20 to 0

Cultural Enlightenment:

Xeno Ethics: added the following tags: Group and WillingnessToTrade

Good and Evil: added the following tags: Group and WillingnessToTrade

Concepts of Malice:

Balanced Vision: added the following tags: Group and WillingnessToTrade

Concepts of Righteousness:

Fusion Reactors:-changed DisplayName from "Fusion Reactors" to "Hyper Fusion Reactors" (it's called that way in almost all of the racial tech trees)-changed "star gates" to "stargates", "Hyper Drive" to "Hyperdrive", and "home world" to "homeworld"-added the following tags: Group and WillingnessToTrade

HyperDrive:-added the following tags: Group, Category, and WillingnessToTrade-changed DisplayName from HyperDrive to Hyperdrive (consistency)-changes to the Details: "light years" to "light-years", "star gate(s)" to "stargate(s)", "Human" to "human"-changed Requires from None to FusionReactors-set Category to Propulsion

New Propulsion Techniques: changed "to make a 10 million mile trip seem the same as taking a one light year trip." to "to make a one light-year trip seem the same as taking a 10 million mile trip." (the comparison didn't make sense as written)

Ion Drive:-added the following tags: Group and WillingnessToTrade-changed Description "Provide" to "Provides"

Impulse Drive: added WillingnessToTrade tag

Impulse Drive Mark II: added WillingnessToTrade tag

Impulse Drive Mark III: added WillingnessToTrade tag

Warp Drive: added WillingnessToTrade tag

Warp Drive II: added WillingnessToTrade tag

Warp Drive III: added WillingnessToTrade tag

Warp Drive IV: added WillingnessToTrade tag

Warp Drive V: added WillingnessToTrade tag

HyperWarp:

HyperWarp II: added WillingnessToTrade tag

HyperWarp III: added WillingnessToTrade tag

Interstellar Navigation: changed Cost from 200 to 250 (same as in the Arcean tech tree)

Sub-Space Drive:

Advanced Navigation Centers: changed Cost from 2500 to 3500 (same as in the Arcean tech tree)

Enhanced Slavelings:-changed Cost from 2000 to 3500 (same as in the Drengin tech tree)-added the following tags: MilitaryProductionAbility, CanBeTraded, and CanBeStolen-set MilitaryProductionAbility to 10 (same as in the Drengin tech tree)-changed WillingnessToTrade from 50 to 0

Death Furnaces:-added CanBeStolen tag-changed WillingnessToTrade from 50 to 0

Artificial Slavelings:-changed Category from MilManufacturingitary to Manufacturing-changed Cost from 4000 to 7500 (same as in the Drengin tech tree)-added the following tags: MilitaryProductionAbility, CanBeTraded, and CanBeStolen-set MilitaryProductionAbility to 10 (same as in the Drengin tech tree)-changed WillingnessToTrade from 50 to 0

Aul Incineration:-changed "wreteched clones to power it as well as..well significant parts of the biosphere." to "wretched clones to power it, as well as significant parts of the biosphere."-removed Alignment tag

Ultimate Diabolical Research:-changed DisplayName from "Imaginative Research" to "Ultimate Diabolical Research" (it had the same DisplayName as the previous tech)-added the following tags: added the following tags: Group, CanBeTraded, CanBeStolen, and WillingnessToTrade

Pain Amplification:-changed Cost from 800 to 2500-added ResearchAbility tag-set ResearchAbility to 5 (same as in the Drengin tech tree)

Divergent Evolution:-changed Category from Biology to Terraforming-changed Cost from 500 to 300-removed Alignment tag-added LuckAbility tag-set LuckAbility to 10 (same as in the Altarian tech tree)

Weather Control:-changed Category from Biology to Terraforming-added the following tags: Cost, CanBeTraded, and CanBeStolen-set Cost to 500-changed Requires from None to XenoGeology-changed WillingnessToTrade from 50 to 0

So, bit early for it, but since it does follow on from races, what will we do about weapons? A standardised set for each race, or a slightly rebalanced version of the existing sets (as opposed to radically rebalanced)?

Good question. I would love to use the approach I used in my mod, but that might be a bit too radical. All weapons and defence branches have the same amount of tiers, and each tier has a maximum of three techs (the ultimate tiers have only one, so no more Invulnerability 1-3).Still, I would like to at least scrap the Particle Beam techs, and give everyone access to Disruptors again. This should reduce the sudden jump in power when reaching Doom Rays.

I like the idea of having some more weapon techs before you reach the ultimate weapons. Or alternatively, improving the rate at which firepower to space increases, because that's half the reason particle beams are so useless. Which helps both the AI and player to build ships which are worth building.

I have a spreadsheet of all the weapons in my mod (and some of the other modules) so I'll tweak it a bit and add a Dropbox link in a bit so you can have a look. I don't have the vanilla progression in there for comparison, alas, but seriously, it was really crap!